Fibabanka launches Türkiye’s first Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform. GetirFinans, a financial services arm of Getir, is the platform’s first user. The platform allows non-banking businesses to offer tailored financial services to customers. GetirFinans users can access banking services like account management, card issuance, and payments, powered by Fibabanka’s digital infrastructure with support from over 500 APIs. Fibabanka aims to meet the growing demand for seamless financial services within non-banking platforms. Plans to expand the BaaS model to other industries and geographies, starting with the UK.

New Chairman: David Yates, a financial services veteran, has been appointed as the new chairman of Tuum, a core banking software firm based in Tallinn, Estonia. Yates’ Background: Yates has over 40 years of experience, having held senior roles at IBM, Western Union, and First Data Corporation. He was CEO and chairman of Vocalink, overseeing its sale to Mastercard, where he later served as president of new payment platforms. Other Roles: Yates is also chairman of Nium and vice chairman at Equiniti. Tuum’s Platform: Tuum offers an API-based core banking platform enabling banks to operate multiple business lines from a single system. Expansion Plans: Tuum serves clients in 11 countries and recently secured €25 million in a Series B round to expand into new markets, including the Middle East. Yates’ Perspective: Yates believes there is a strong need for core banking renewal as the financial industry upgrades for the digital age. Board’s Decision: CommerzVentures’ Heiko Schwender noted the appointment was made to handle the company’s growing revenues and operational complexity.

New Funding Round: M2P Fintech is reportedly raising up to $80 million. Lead Investor: Helios Investment Partners is leading the round with a $50 million investment for a 6.5% stake. Additional Investors: Oman’s Bank Muscat is participating, and early investor Beenext is looking to sell part of its stake to angel investors. Conflicting Reports: A separate report by Entrackr suggests M2P secured $50 million from new investor Taj Investment Holdings. Company Background: Based in Chennai, M2P Fintech provides API infrastructure enabling businesses to embed fintech services. Previous Funding: M2P raised $56 million in a Series C1 round in 2022 and has made six acquisitions, including Goals101 for $30 million in December.

New Role: Marqeta has named Fouzi Husaini as its new Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer. Responsibilities: Husaini will scale Marqeta’s AI organization, focusing on reducing risk, improving consumer and commercial rewards, and accelerating innovation. Background: Husaini has over 25 years of AI experience, previously serving as VP of Machine Learning Engineering at Capital One and leading teams at Amazon for over nine years. Key Areas: His expertise will support Marqeta in enhancing transaction intelligence, fraud prevention, and customer service. AI Focus: Marqeta is placing increased emphasis on AI, having invested in generative AI, including the launch of Marqeta Docs AI, an AI-powered Q&A tool.

As financial institutions adapt to new industry standards and technologies, legacy platforms like the Integration Platform for Large Applications (IPLA) are being phased out. This shift is driven by the need for more flexible, scalable, and secure integration platforms. By replacing IPLA, organizations can improve operational efficiency, compliance, and overall system performance. Why IPLA Replacement is Crucial Outdated Technology: Legacy systems like IPLA often struggle to handle modern financial messaging standards like ISO 20022. Their inability to support real-time processing and advanced integration requirements can lead to inefficiencies, higher costs, and a lack of scalability. Increased Flexibility: Modern integration platforms offer service-oriented architectures (SOA), which allow organizations to seamlessly manage various communication protocols. This flexibility ensures smoother integration with payment systems and financial networks, resulting in more efficient data exchange and transaction tracking. Enhanced Security: Legacy systems are often more vulnerable to security threats. Newer platforms offer enhanced security features, including encrypted data transfer, multi-layered authentication, and improved compliance with evolving regulatory standards. Cost Efficiency: With the decommissioning of IPLA, businesses can reduce the cost associated with maintaining legacy systems. The modern platforms require lower maintenance and are designed to be more adaptable, reducing the need for constant updates. Seamless Migration: Transitioning from IPLA to modern platforms doesn’t need to be a complex process. New solutions offer simplified migration paths, often with in-built tools to ease the data transfer and ensure minimal disruption to ongoing operations. Key Features of a Modern Replacement Platform Support for ISO 20022: Ensures compatibility with modern financial messaging standards. Real-Time Processing: Enables immediate validation and faster transaction workflows. Customizable Integration: Tailored to fit specific business needs, from payment processing to data management. Centralized Data Management: Provides a unified data repository for better operational visibility. Cloud Scalability: Offers on-demand resource allocation to support growing transaction volumes.

Parent Company: Financial Institutions, Inc. (FII), parent of Five Star Bank and Courier Capital, will commence an orderly wind down of BaaS operations. Reason for Wind Down: FII’s executive management and board reviewed BaaS contributions to financial results, evolving regulatory expectations, and future investments in talent and technology, deciding to prioritize core community banking instead. CEO Statement: CEO Martin Birmingham emphasized focusing on retail banking, commercial banking, and wealth management in existing geographic markets to benefit shareholders, customers, and communities. Financial Impact: BaaS operations represented approximately $108 million in deposits (2% of total) and $31 million in loans (less than 1%), with an expected “immaterial” financial impact from the closure. BaaS Partnerships: Five Star Bank has 12 BaaS partnerships—four live, four not yet testing, two in onboarding, and two already offboarding. Completion Timeline: The bank plans to complete the BaaS wind down by 2025. Employee Impact: All BaaS personnel will be retained and refocused on supporting core banking growth.

Partnership: OneAZ Credit Union partners with Dutch digital banking solutions provider Backbase to enhance its digital services. Platform Utilized: OneAZ will use Backbase’s Engagement Banking platform to expand its offerings, incorporating real estate, insurance, and lifestyle services, aiming to create a “one-stop shop” experience for members. Platform Capabilities: Backbase’s platform integrates with over 10 core banking systems, providing tools for onboarding, loyalty, servicing, and loan origination. Benefits: The integration will unify OneAZ’s IT architecture, improve agility, and give more control over future digital rollouts. Leadership View: Brandon Michaels, president and CEO of OneAZ, describes Backbase’s platform as the “backbone” of their digital transformation. Credit Union Stats: OneAZ operates 20 branches in Arizona, manages over $3.4 billion in assets, and services 200,000+ members and 12,000 businesses. Backbase’s Global Reach: Backbase’s platform is used by 120 financial institutions worldwide, including Danske Bank, Bank Muamalat, and MyState Bank.

Funding Details: AtoB, a payments solutions provider for the transportation industry, raised $130 million in Series C funding, a mix of equity and debt. Investors: The round was co-led by General Catalyst and Bloomberg Beta, with backing from Mastercard and industry players in trucking and logistics. Company Overview: Founded in 2019 and based in San Francisco, AtoB offers a payments platform for drivers and fleet operators, featuring instant payroll, access to bank accounts, fraud prevention, expense management, and no-fee fleet cards. Growth: AtoB reported a 500% growth in revenue and volume, driven by partnerships like its collaboration with Uber Freight on a co-branded fuel card. Use of Funds: The funding will support product and team expansion. CEO Statement: CEO Vignan Velivela emphasized the importance of the funding in helping truckers and small businesses with tools for transparency and efficiency.

Project Overview: Project Agorá, led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), aims to explore how tokenisation can improve wholesale cross-border payments. Private Sector Participation: Over 40 private financial firms, including Standard Chartered, Mastercard, Lloyds, and JP Morgan Chase, have confirmed participation. Central Bank Involvement: Seven central banks, such as the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, are supporting the project. Design Phase: The project has entered its design phase, focusing on integrating tokenised commercial bank deposits with tokenised central bank money on a programmable ledger. Challenges Addressed: The initiative seeks to tackle structural inefficiencies in current payment systems, such as legal disparities across jurisdictions, varied technical requirements, and the complexity of repeated financial integrity controls. Building on Past Work: Project Agorá builds on findings from BIS’s previous initiative, Project Mariana, which explored the use of wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border settlements.

Acquisition Announcement: London-based wealth manager Quilter has acquired digital investment platform NuWealth, launched in 2019, for an undisclosed sum. NuWealth Specialization: NuWealth focuses on providing market access to novice investors through features like fractional share trading, themed ETFs, and access to stocks in the UK, EU, and US markets. Plans for NuWealth: Quilter aims to evolve NuWealth to work with financial advisers, helping new investors start their investment journey with potential future access to advisers. Expansion of Digital Capabilities: The acquisition will strengthen Quilter’s digital services and support its workplace advice offerings through Quilter Financial Advisers. Support for Advisers: Quilter CEO Steven Levin notes that the acquisition addresses the need for a solution to help financial advisers support clients who are new to investing. Future Focus: Quilter plans to adapt NuWealth to promote financial advice and prepare for future regulatory changes in the sector.

NeoXam Acquisition: NeoXam, a Paris-based fintech firm, is set to acquire EZOPS, an AI-powered data control and automation company. Expansion: The acquisition will expand NeoXam’s reach across Europe, Asia, and North America. Enhancement of Offerings: NeoXam will integrate EZOPS’ solutions, including data control, workflow automation, reconciliation, and regulatory reporting, into its fintech services. NeoXam Background: Founded in 2014, NeoXam offers data management, reporting, portfolio accounting, and transaction software solutions, servicing over 150 asset managers and banks globally. Staff Expansion: Over 150 employees from EZOPS’ offices in New York, New Jersey, Dublin, and Delhi will join NeoXam. Global Growth: NeoXam aims to leverage this acquisition to accelerate growth in the US, Ireland, and India. EZOPS Funding: EZOPS raised $10 million in a 2019 funding round led by Credit Suisse NEXT Investors. Deal Terms: Further financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Funding Raised: £23.4 million. Lead Investors: RTP Global and Repeat (formerly Jigsaw VC), with additional support from LocalGlobal, Seedcamp, and Northzone. Previous Funding: In 2022, Yonder raised £62.5 million (£12.5 million in equity, £50 million in debt) at a valuation of over £70 million. Use of Funds: Expand team. Enhance rewards offerings. Accelerate international expansion, aiming to launch outside the UK by the end of 2025. Company Overview: Founded in 2021 and launched in March 2022. Offers a lifestyle rewards credit card, using open banking data for personalized credit decisions rather than traditional credit checks. Recent Developments: Introduced a free membership tier. Launched Yonder Flights, allowing members to redeem points on any flight globally. Future Plans: New partnerships with iconic global brands. Additional features to promote responsible credit usage.

Leadership Appointments: Paul Pester: Former TSB Bank CEO, appointed as chair of Firenze’s board. Samantha Bamert: Former Barclays executive, named non-executive director. Mike Toole: Artorius co-founder, also named non-executive director. Firenze’s Business Focus: Launch: Firenze was launched in January 2024. Objective: Democratise access to Lombard loans through an embedded finance platform targeted at wealth managers, brokers, and investment platforms. Lombard Lending: Allows investors to secure loans using assets like stocks and bonds as collateral without selling them. Loan Offering: Current loan minimum is £65,000, with plans to reduce it to £25,000 pending FCA approval in 2025. Funding and Investors: Firenze raised £750,000 in pre-seed funding. Early investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Atomico, Ada Ventures, and Lakestar. Timing and Market Relevance: Paul Pester highlights the relevance of Lombard lending given the increasing political discussion around capital gains tax, positioning Firenze as a timely solution.

Loop: Funding Raised: $4.7 million (CAD 6.4 million). Headquarters: Toronto, Canada. Investors: Mistral Venture Partners, Luge Capital, Graphite Ventures, Wedbush Ventures, Conconi Growth Partners, among others. Purpose: To accelerate growth and build a global financial services solution for businesses. Service: Cross-border business banking and finance platform. Primary: Funding Raised: $3.5 million in seed round. Headquarters: Australia. Lead Investor: Carthona Capital. Purpose: To scale its treasury management platform offering higher yields and reduced complexity for businesses. Sitewire: Funding Raised: $3.17 million in seed round. Headquarters: California, USA. Lead Investor: Zacua Ventures. Purpose: To expand its construction finance platform and strengthen its market presence. Regfyl: Funding Raised: $1.1 million in pre-seed round. Headquarters: Lagos, Nigeria. Investors: Techstars, RallyCap Ventures, DCG Expeditions, Africa Fintech Collective, Musha Ventures. Purpose: To grow its AML compliance platform and expand its teams. Savr: Additional Investment: Undisclosed amount from Incore Invest. Headquarters: Sweden. Purpose: To expand its investment platform by adding equities, mutual funds, and potentially exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Kasisto: Funding Raised: Undisclosed amount in Series D round. Headquarters: New York, USA. Total Raised: $90 million to date. New Leadership: Don Layden named as executive chairman. Purpose: To enhance its conversational AI platform for financial institutions.

Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union (Minnesota) has signed a multi-year deal with Lumin Digital. The $4.2 billion-asset credit union is adopting Lumin’s cloud-based digital banking platform to enhance online and mobile banking for its 265,000 members. New features will include customized spending insights, financial guidance, tailored savings goals, and fraud protection. Maha Brauch, director of digital services, emphasized their commitment to delivering a best-in-class digital banking experience. Affinity Plus’ existing tech stack includes the Episys core system from Symitar and the Architect platform from Fiserv. Lumin was chosen for its speed to market, conversion track record, advanced technology, and uptime performance. Other Lumin clients include State Department Federal Credit Union (Virginia), Community Financial Credit Union (Michigan), and Eagle Federal Credit Union (New Mexico).

Ruya Bank, the first Islamic digital community bank in the UAE, has signed with Network International for payment solutions. The partnership provides Ruya with instant transaction processing, customised user interactions, and a full suite of digital services. Ruya will also use Network International’s value-added services, including tokenisation, card control, and fraud mitigation. These solutions will help Ruya deliver a digital-first approach, enhancing transaction speed, convenience, and the customer experience. Ruya Bank, based in Ajman, launched this year with Shariah-compliant retail banking services, including Wakala deposit accounts and savings products. Business banking services are also planned for future release

Versana raised $26 million in a capital round, welcoming Barclays as a new investor. Barclays will act as an investor, subscriber, and agent data contributor, supporting Versana’s corporate loan data platform. CEO Cynthia Sachs highlighted Barclays’ involvement as significant for the global syndicated loan market and its role in geographical expansion. Barclays’ presence in the UK and Europe is expected to help Versana with its global ambitions. Existing investors Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo also participated, having previously backed Versana’s $40 million raise last year. Versana operates a real-time digital data platform centralizing corporate loan data from administrative agents in the syndicated loan and private credit markets. The platform processes 4,800 different corporate loans with a combined value of $2.7 trillion and is experiencing rapid growth.

Mastercard plans to acquire US-based threat intelligence platform Recorded Future for $2.65 billion. The deal, with Insight Partners (which acquired Recorded Future in 2019 for $780 million), is expected to close by Q1 2025, pending regulatory approval. The acquisition will enhance Mastercard’s identity, fraud prevention, real-time decisioning, and cybersecurity services, offering expanded threat intelligence capabilities. Recorded Future, founded in 2009, provides real-time cyber threat insights using AI to analyze data from the deep web, social media, and other sources. The platform serves over 1,900 clients across 75 countries, including 45 national governments. Mastercard’s Craig Vosburg says the acquisition enhances security measures before, during, and after transactions. Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future, says the acquisition will broaden the company’s intelligence strategy and scale its business.

FE fundinfo has acquired AdviserAsset, a due diligence and product selection tool, for an undisclosed sum. AdviserAsset, founded in 2010, supports financial advisors, wealth managers, and paraplanners with fund research, analysis, portfolio management, and compliance. The acquisition will integrate AdviserAsset’s tools into FE fundinfo’s product suite, including its FE Analytics fund research solution. Users will benefit from enhanced onboarding, research, planning, investment product selection, and reporting functions. AdviserAsset’s large platform database will assist clients with platform switch analysis. This acquisition follows FE fundinfo’s recent acquisitions of Dericon in 2023 and CashCalc in 2021.

FlexiLoans raised $34.5 million in Series C funding to support India’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) through its online lending platform. The round was led by Maj Invest (also led the $90 million Series B in 2022), with new investors Accion Digital Transformation, Nuveen, and Fundamentum. The platform has now raised $76.6 million in equity and over $240.9 million in debt. Funds will be used to expand operations, enhance product offerings, and strengthen its technological infrastructure. Co-founder Deepak Jain stated that the capital will help expand reach and support underserved MSMEs. FlexiLoans uses a proprietary credit underwriting engine powered by machine learning to assess creditworthiness without requiring collateral. The platform focuses on MSMEs in tier two and tier three cities, with $840 million disbursed to over 50,000 businesses to date. FlexiLoans credits partnerships with e-commerce platforms, lenders, and payment technology vendors for creating innovative credit products.